Blood United, House Divided
by AnimeAvarice
Summary: Severus Snape has lost the one person he ever called his friend. Now, he has met a fellow Slytherin who takes thinking out of the box to a whole new level: He wants to unite Hogwarts. Severus has become a part of a rising revolution, or so it seems. But when everyone seems to have ulterior motives, it seems being in the same house doesn't matter anymore. AU. T cuz I'm paranoid.
1. Regulus Black

**Chapter 1**

**Regulus Black**

_**Hello all! So, I know people are waiting for the next chapter of Love Beyond Tears, so on and so forth, and I WILL get to that! I've already started on the third(I think) chapter, so no worries. But I got a really good idea and really wanted to write this. It's my account, dangit! I can write whatever the heck I want! But anyways. This is my FIRST FanFic with NO anime in it. Yup. That's right. No crossover, nothing. Just Harry Potter. My screen name no longer makes any sense... Enjoy the story!**_

_**EDIT: A review I got on chapter 3 gave the suggestion of letting people know this IS an AU. The characters that are in this fic are pretty mixed as (ex: Lucius is one year above Severus). So, yeah. No canon ages whatsoever. Thank you.**_

_**-AA**_

"I don't need help from a mudblood!" yelled Severus Snape angrily.

Lily Evans looked at him in shock, horror, and hurt then ran from the room, crying. James Potter dropped Severus and tore off after Lily.

Sirius Black and Reamus Lupin gave Severus twin looks of utter disgust and took off after their friends, with Peter Pettegrew in tow. Before they left, however, Sirius managed to lock Severus with a Full Body Binding curse.

Severus was now completely alone in the classroom, locked like a board on the floor with tears streaming down his face.

How could he have been so stupid?! Calling Lily a mudblood was completely inexcusable.

_I deserve to die. Right here, on the floor of this classroom, _he thought, his forehead resting on the chilled stone tile.

"Helloo? Professor?" someone called from the door way.

_Who could that be? _Severus thought as the sound of footsteps came closer and closer.

"Well that can't be comfortable," the person said, stopping in front of Severus.

Try as he might, the fifth year Slytherin could only make out the person's black shoes and pants. He could tell from the voice it was a boy, but not much else.

"One second," the boy said, obviously trying to find his wand. He dropped it near Severus' face. "Dammit," he muttered, bending over to pick it up.

Severus saw the boy's black hair and part of his face. _Wait, is that Potter's friend?! _Severus thought, panicking. _No, if that was Black, I would be dead already, _he reasoned with himself. Despite what he thought earlier, Severus Snape had no intention of dying before he could apologize to Lily. Plus, he noticed the green scarf around the boy's neck, signaling that he was a Slytherin, not the accursed Gryffindor house.

The boy cast the counter curse and Severus could move again. He slowly moved into a sitting position on the floor and looked up.

Standing above him was a boy who looked to be fourteen and looked almost exactly like Sirius Black, but darker somehow.

"Hey there. You're Snape, right?" the kid said.

"Yeah," Severus said, warily.

"Cool. You really annoy my brother, you know." he said, grinning. "It's good to know there's someone outside his group of friends that he actually acknowledges!" he laughed, but there was a flash of bitter resentment in his eye. Severus blinked and it was gone.

"Your brother is... Sirius Black, right?" Severus asked.

"Yup. The freak-ozoid of the Black family." He held out his hand. "Regulus Arcturus Black, at your service."

Severus took his hand and Regulus pulled him to his feet.

"So, Sevvy, how'd you end up on the floor?" Regulus asked as they walked from the classroom.

Severus scowled. "Your brother. And don't call me that."

Regulus ignored him. "Ah, that's life. You can't win 'em all, eh Sevs?"

Severus scowled deeper. "I suppose not. And will you please stop with the nicknames?"

The bell rang and Regulus asked, "So, where ya headed?"

"Divination," Severus said, walking to North Tower.

"Ah, bad luck. I have Care of Magical Creatures. See you later then, Sevu!" he laughed, waving and walking off in the other direction.

**TIMESKIIIIP!**

**At dinner**

Severus sat near the center of the table with Avery and Mulciber, who were hardly paying attention to him at all.

Just then, he saw Mulciber get levitated into the air and a familiar fourth year sit down in his place.

"Hiya, Sev," Regulus said, dropping Mulciber behind the table.

"Hey! You brat!" Mulciber yelled, getting up and swinging at Regulus' head.

Regulus, however, was obviously expecting such and swiveled in his seat as Mulciber's punch missed his face by inches.

There was a flash of bloodlust in Regulus' eyes and before anyone- including Mulciber- realized, Regulus landed a swift jab into his stomach. Mulciber fell like a rock and before he could get up, Regulus landed a slam onto the top of his neck, causing the older boy to collapse into unconsciousness.

The Slytherin table stared in shock, as well as part of the Ravenclaw table, who was seated closest to them.

Regulus payed this no mind, however and turned back towards the table, smiling as if nothing had happened and returned to his food.

Slowly, the other students returned to their dinner as well, but there was a lot of muttering about what had happened.

Severus, however, could not forget the flash of the need to kill in Regulus' eyes. His gaze dropped to Mulciber, who was now being picked up by Avery, and let out a sigh of relief when he saw his classmate's chest moving up and down with his breathing.

Once dinner was complete, the Houses branched off to their common rooms.

Once inside, the other Slytherins either went to bed or hung out. However, Severus was still thinking about dinner when Regulus stepped in front of him.

"Hey, what's up?" he said, smiling as usual. Severus had come to seriously doubt that smile now, as he began to see Regulus was not as friendly and innocent as he appeared.

"Not much, really. Won't you get in trouble though?" the fifth year asked.

"What, for what happened earlier?" He plopped down onto an armchair in front of a chess table. "Nah. No one really cares."

He picked up the knight and twisted it in his hand.

"Hey, Sevs, I have a question for you," he said, watching the chess piece.

"What?" Severus asked, ignoring the nickname.

"Well, I was thinking. You see, you know how the houses are so separated, right?" he stopped moving the knight, paused, then moved it onto the board. "I want to unite them."

Severus stared in disbelief. "Wait, what?" he asked, still not thinking he heard right. Why would a Slytherin of all people want to _unite_ everyone? That was something a Hufflepuff or a Gryffindor would want, not one of his own.

"I know it sounds cliché and stupid, but think about it. One house, one team, one school. There would be no more fights or House wars. It would work out so we could all be together as one unanimous body."

"But, you would want to be in the same house as the Mudbloods?" Severus asked incredulously.

"You mean, like Lily Evans?" Regulus said, shooting him a dark look.

The comment struck hard. He had completely forgotten what he had said to Lily that afternoon.

He glanced towards the door, and back at Regulus.

His new friend smirked and said, "Go on. But think about what I said, okay?"

Severus was already at the door.

**In front of the Fat Lady's portrait**

"I don't want to hear it."

"I'm sorry!"

"Save your breath."

Lily stood in her dressing gown with arms folded in front of the portrait hole.

"I only came here because Mary said you would sleep out here if I didn't show up."

"And I would have! I didn't mean to call you-"

"Mudblood? You call everyone else of my blood that, so why not me? I've made more excuses for you than I care to count. You and your Death Eater friends. You don't even deny it! You all can't wait to be a part of You-Know-Who's army!"

She turned to the painting and opened it.

"Wait! Lily, please!" Severus cried.

"It's too late, Severus. I'm in Gryffindor, you're in Slytherin. It just... couldn't work." With that, she slipped into the wall and disappeared into the common room.

Severus sank to his knees, defeated. Lily's words still rang in his head.

Suddenly, Sirius remembered Regulus' words, "_It would work out so we could all be together as one unanimous body._"

Severus stormed into the Slytherin common room.

All the other students were asleep, but Regulus remained seated at the chess table, his knight unmoved.

The fourth year boy didn't look up as Severus entered.

"Well?" Regulus asked, his hand on the black knight.

Severus nodded and said, "I want to help you unite Hogwarts."

Regulus moved the knight.


	2. Brothers Divided (Modified)

Chapter 2

Brothers Divided

_**Ok, something I should mention: I am honestly unsure of the ages in Harry Potter: Marauders time period. There may be people in this that are already out of Hogwarts or not of age yet. I don't know, and I don't care. It's FANFICTION. I'm messing with the time line, but for the sake of the story, I'm gonna add characters when they're needed, so don't give me crap about it, please. **_

_**I've also already gotten two reviews and seven followers. Thank you all so, so, so much. You have no idea how much it means to me.**_

_**Credit to Crystal12345 for helping me with part of the chapter.**_

_**EDIT: Ok, so I re-uploaded this chapter, because some of my writings in it was literally haunting me on how childishly it was written. Sorry, but I was having serious issues with it. So here it is, chapter 2: re-uploaded.**_

_**-AA**_

**At breakfast**

It was the day after Lily had rejected Severus, and she had been avoiding his eyes all morning. James Potter, however, was completely oblivious and was flirting with her, right in front of Severus. Okay, maybe he was at the other table, but still.

"Sevvy?" Regulus said, who was sitting with him near the end of the table (Mulciber and Avery wouldn't even get in a five foot radius of them).

"What is it?" Severus said, still glaring at James.

"You're crushing your toast," the fourth year pointed out.

And Severus was indeed squeezing the life out of the bread clenched in his fist. He dropped it with a defeated sigh, then began swirling his eggs around his plate.

Regulus rolled his eyes, then, without warning, stuffed a piece of pancake down Severus' throat. Severus choked the pancake down, trying not to suffocate.

"What *_**ack***_ was that for?!" he coughed out in between gasps of air.

"Eat," Regulus said, waving another piece of pancake menacingly on his fork. Severus obediently shoveled down his breakfast.

**TIMEY-SKIPY!**

Severus had a free period and sat under an oak tree in the courtyard, sketching.

He was drawing a lily, as usual. It was his favorite flower, for obvious reasons. However, it seemed he could never get the petals quite right, which annoyed him to no end.

He looked up and saw Lily sitting with James and his friends, and worse, she was laughing. She was laughing_ with_ them. James had a victorious look on his face, and when he caught Severus looking at them, smirked in his direction. Before hurriedly returning to his drawing, he saw James turn to his friends and say something.

_Oh no... Here they come..._ Severus thought as he saw them get off the bench in his peripheral vision.

Before he had time to get up, however, James snatched the sketch book from his hands.

"Knock it off, will you?" Severus glared at the Gryffindor.

The Marauders laughed and tossed his sketchbook across the lawn.

"Fetch!" Sirius commanded, causing the group to laugh harder.

"Ironic, coming from you," said James, giving him a bemused look.

Severus didn't undersand the joke, but it was probably something they did within their little group.

As Severus went to retrieve his sketchpad, James shot his foot out, causing the Slytherin boy to go sprawling on the grass.

Flipping himself over, Severus whipped his wand out and faced the other boys. They also took out their wands, but before anyone could cast a spell, a lazy call of, "_Expelliarmus_" sent all four wands (Remus didn't want to be involved) flying behind Severus and into the hand of an older boy with long, white-blond hair, stormy gray eyes and a bored expression. Lucius Malfoy, Prefect.

"No spell-casting duels on grounds please, at least not where I can see you," Lucius sighed, tossing their wands back.

Severus went to retrieve his wand, and Lucius picked up his sketchbook and handed it to him.

"This is yours, I presume?" the prefect asked. Severus nodded and took the pad.

"So then, are you on the Quiddich team?" Severus asked on their way back to the castle.

"No, I never had much interest in that sort of thing. I prefer to simply watch." Lucius looked thoughtful for a second then asked, "Don't we have a game against Gryffindor tomorrow?"

**At the Quiddich mach**

The announcer was calling out the names of the players as they walked out onto the field.

As expected, Regulus was grinning broadly, twirling his broom in his hand.

As he got onto the broom, it seemed Regulus was having the time of his life. Then the whistle blew.

The players soared into the sky, all at different speeds. The two seekers, James and Regulus, were at the highest point of the field. James seemed to be anxiously looking for the Snitch, but Regulus seemed perfectly relaxed.

There was a cheer from one side of the field as the Gryffindors scored. James looked very smug at this, but Regulus only smiled.

_How is he so calm? _Severus thought, unbelieving. If it were him up there, he would have been panicking the whole time.

A Slytherin beater hit a bludger straight towards one of the Gryffindor chasers, causing her to drop the ball.

Severus sighed. For some reason, he never really liked Quiddich and would much rather be reading or drawing.

Then, a golden gleam shot through the air. James blasted forward with his hand outstretched. Regulus was a good five feet behind him, casually flying in his wake.

James smirked as he flew faster, out-distancing the younger seeker by over a foot.

_What is he doing? _Severus thought, watching Regulus follow James a ways back.

The Slytherins looked bewildered and the Gryffindors laughed at him. But not long after, his moves made sense.

The ring around the stadium was drawing closer. The Snitch then had four options: it could go straight up; it could go around; it could go down; or it could go back.

The Snitch chose up.

It rocketed upwards in the air, then flew back to the center of the field. As Regulus reached his hand up to grab the Snitch, Severus saw James yell something at Sirius. The Gryffindor beater hesitated, but then slammed his bat against a nearby bludger, causing it to go sailing towards his brother.

Regulus snatched his hand down, but Sirius had hit the ball at an angle. An angle that made the bludger connect with the tip of his broom and send the younger seeker spiraling towards the ground.

This gave James the field to himself and quickly claimed the Snitch.

The Gryffindor House cheered and the Slytherins muttered about "how pathetic that was."

Severus, however, was barreling down the stairs to get to Regulus, who hadn't gotten up.

When he got to the bottom, Madam Pomfrey and Professor Slughorn were already there.

Regulus was sprawled on the grass with his broom broken in two pieces. Sirius and James landed a ways off, surrounded by the other Gryffindors.

James was grinning and patting Sirius on the back.

Sirius was smiling, though half-heartedly as he watched Madam Pomfrey carry Regulus away.

Madam Pomfrey took Regulus to the hospital wing while Severus followed behind her with Professor Slughorn.

Glancing behind him, Severus saw Dumbledore talking with Sirius and James.

**At the hospital wing**

Regulus was lying on a cot in the hospital wing unconscious.

Severus sat near Regulus' head on a chair. Professor Slughorn was busy talking with Madam Pomfrey.

Severus looked at Regulus' unconscious form.

_How could Sirius do that? _Severus thought.

Regulus' eyes slowly opened. He turned to look at Severus.

"Hey, Sevu," he smiled, tiredly.

"What happened?" asked Severus.

"Eh. Sirius got lucky, I suppose," Regulus sighed. "I'm alright."

After a silence, Severus asked, "Why aren't you angry with him?"

Regulus said nothing, as if thinking about it.

"I guess it's because, whether I like it or not, Sirius is my brother," he smiled. "The thing is, he's always been in my life, except for the year he was in Hogwarts and I wasn't. That was probably the hardest year of my life."

Severus was surprised. He never imagined that Regulus actually cared for his brother.

Taking note of Severus' expression, Regulus said, "Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't hang around my brother and his friends if you payed me. But then, that's probably because they would treat me the same way they treat you." He looked up at the ceiling. "I know that Sirius wasn't treated nearly as well as I was back home. He was always the odd one out in our family. Bella made that painfully obvious.

"Still, there was a time, I don't even know if he remembers, but he and I used to be best friends."

Regulus smiled at the ceiling.

"Really? I wouldn't have guessed..." Severus said, trying to imagine.

"I know, it's surprising. But I figure, if there was a time when he was able to look past all of the titles our family gave us, he must still have that quality down somewhere within him."

Regulus turned on his side to face away from Severus.

"That's why... I can never stay mad at him."

_**~~~~~AA~~~~~**_

Regulus was released from the hospital wing in time for dinner.

He sat with Severus, as per usual, but this time Lucius joined them, rather unhappily.

"Unlike you two, I actually have friends, so I really don't need to sit here," the Prefect grumbled.

"Aw, come on, LuLu. You can sit with your poor, hopeless classmates," Regulus grinned, grabbing brussel sprouts.

"Ick," said Lucius, glowering at the green balls of miniature cabbage.

"What? They're good!" Regulus defended, eating the vegetables.

Lucius shook his head and went back to his prime cut of steak.

"Ugh, how much of a rich kid stereotype are you?" the fourteen-year-old asked, disgusted.

Severus shook his head. Completely opposite. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out how they managed from killing each other.

"Hey, Severoo, why you so quiet?" Regulus asked.

"Because I am," he snapped back, unintentionally. Actually, he had been thinking about their conversation in the hospital wing. Regulus was back to his cheerful, bright self, as if nothing had happened.

"Why am I always the one you blame everything on?!" said the blond Slytherin as Severus tuned back into the conversation.

"No reason, Blondie. You just happen to be right here."

Once back at the common room, the three sat down near the fire.

"So, Luci, I was thinking. You're a pretty idealistic guy right?" Regulus asked, smiling.

"You sound like a sales-wizard," Lucius grumbled.

The younger boy laughed and went on.

"You see, and Sevvy already knows this, I had an idea to unite all four houses of Hogwarts."

He stood and held out his hand to the blond.

"Would you consider helping me?" he questioned.

Lucius stared blankly for a moment, before shrugging and answering, "Why not? Could be interesting."

Regulus grinned and shook his hand. "Good to have you on board."

Lucius turned to go to bed and waved good night.

Severus turned to follow him but turned to see if Regulus was going up as well.

The fourth year stood by the chess table, and put the black bishop on the board. He noticed Severus watching him, and waved happily.

Severus waved back and walked up the stairs to his dorm.

He then drifted off to sleep.


	3. The Sisters Black

Chapter 3

The Sisters Black

_**Hey-o! Ok, so I got a question from a guest reviewer named "Little Chibi"**_

**Question:****Is this going to be an AU? I hope so. I've always hated the fact ****that Regulus died before the series even started...**

_**Answer: I'm thinking of making it an AU, yes. Things WILL happen to characters in the story, but I really can't get into too much detail. I'm not 100% as to were the story will go, other than the main idea of the ending. I don't think I will specify if Regulus dies later on and just leave that up to the reader. As for the whole "school united" thing, I can't say literally ANYTHING about it, as it would give away which ever turn the story takes. Sowwyz. **_

_**Also... Love Beyond Tears... yeah... um, I'm having issues with it. The next chapter may take a while to those of you who are reading it, so don't hold your breath. It'll get done, even if it takes five years, I WILL finish that FanFiction. (Or at least write chapter 3)**_

_**P.S., I modified chapter 2 because I was having real problems with how I wrote the middle. Nothing too significant, but you may want to check it out and let me know if you prefer it now to what it was.**_

_**P.P.S., My friend Crystal12345 and I are writing a spinoff series called "Friends at Hogwarts" which takes place in this story, but with myself and her as the main characters. Absolute CrackFic. Posted on Crystal12345's profile. Commercial over.**_

_**Thank you!**_

_**-AA**_

* * *

It was a bright and early morning, and Severus was sitting under the large oak tree, reading. He usually enjoyed this part of the day, but he was feeling unusually antsy and it was distracting. Defeated, his shut his book and returned indoors.

He was walking down the hallway, when something very large collided with his face.

"Huh? What was that?" came a girl's voice.

"Owww..." Severus moaned, testing to see if his nose was bleeding.

"Ah! I'm so sorry!" said the blond girl, who had come into the hall.

"Hahaha, nice, Cissy. Very smooth," cackled a black haired girl who was unmistakably her sister, even though the first girl was fair and the second dark.

"What's going on?" said a third girl, this one brunette, who also came into the hall.

With three girls suddenly all standing above him, Severus suddenly felt very awkward sitting on the floor like that.

"Hey, you're that fifth year boy, the one that Reggie's always hanging around," the black-haired girl said.

"Uh, yeah, we know each other," Severus said, unsure if he was meant to answer.

"You're also in my classes," said the brunette.

"I am?" Severus asked. He had never noticed her before.

"Yeah, we're in the same year." She held out her hand. "I'm Andromeda Black. These are my sisters, Bellatrix," she pointed at the black-haired girl. "And Narcissa," she pointed at the blond.

"Wait, so you're Regulus' cousins? Or sisters?" he asked.

"Cousins," they said in unison.

"Huh. So, I'm Severus, but I guess you knew that," Severus said, slowly shaking her hand.

"So, Cissy, you gonna help the kid up? I mean, you were the one that shoved a door into his face," Bellatrix laughed.

Narcissa rushed over and helped Severus to his feet.

"I'm really sorry about that," she said, picking up Severus' book.

"It's no problem," Severus said, taking the book. "I'm not hurt."

Just then, the Great Hall opened, signaling it was time for breakfast.

"Hey, why don't you come with us, Sevvy?" Bellatrix asked. The other two nodded in agreement. "Well, um-" But Bellatrix didn't give him time to finish and grabbed a hold of Severus sleeve, dragging him along.

"Wow, you've employed _girls_ to help you now?" called James from the Gryffindor table.

"That's a new low, even for you Snivvelus."

Every girl in the Great Hall gave him a nasty look. James raised his hands in surrender.

As they passed, Bellatrix cast a summoning spell on his chair, which made him fall to the floor, landing on his butt.

The Slytherin table laughed as he glowered at her, picking up his chair and sulking back over to the table.

Professor McGonnagal shot Bellatrix a look, but she only smirked.

Severus looked over to the end of the table where Regulus was sitting. Surprisingly, Lucius was there again too.

As the four walked over, Narcissa noticed Lucius and froze, turning pink in a matter of seconds.

"I, um, we, can-" she stammered, but Bellatrix only rolled her eyes and sat her down on a chair. A chair directly across from Lucius.

"Wow, Narcissa. I think you just created your own shade of red. What's it called? 'Fangirling Over The Love Of My Life?'" Regulus laughed.

"Sh-shut up!" Narcissa commanded, though the effect was ruined because she somehow managed to turn even deeper red when she saw Lucius looking at her.

The sixth year Prefect smirked at her, then returned to his scones.

The three girls fell right into pace with the three boys (probably because they lived with the most talkative of the trio). Lucius would chime in every once in a while and Severus would listen, but Regulus easily had the most conversation going. Severus learned that Bellatrix despised the Charms teacher, but Andromeda was the favorite in that class, though she couldn't compete with Lucius. He learned Narcissa wanted to get a passing grade in Transfiguration, though Bellatrix assured her that the Hogwarts Express would be more likely to turn to chocolate than her pass Transfiguration. Lucius smiled and said she would do fine, causing the fourth year girl to go into a mini-coma.

After the six of them split off to go to classes, Andromeda and Severus went off to Herbology together.

"So, what's your specialty?" Andromeda asked.

"Pardon?" Severus looked at her, bewildered. The question seemed totally random, not to mention he had no idea of what she meant.

"For Regulus' group. What's your specialty?" she asked. The brunette sighed, noting his still unsure expression and went on, "You see, everyone here has a 'specialty.' Everyone Regulus has recruited, anyway.

"See, Lucius Malfoy is the obvious choice for Transfiguration, as he's practically gifted at it. Cissy is amazing with Charms, Bella specializes in Curses and Hexes, and I'm pretty good with counter-curses." She smiled at him. "So, what about you?" Andromeda asked.

"Um, I'm pretty good with potions, I guess," Severus said, pretty sure that's what she meant. It must have been, since she nodded and asked nothing further.

"So then, what's the point?" he asked Severus. "The point of having all these 'specialties,' I mean."

Andromeda thought about this for a second. "Well, it could be coincidence," she said, as they passed a group of giggling first years. "I don't have an answer for you yet. Anyway, it probably is a coincidence. I just tend to notice these things."

The two walked in silence for the rest of the way to the front doors of the castle.

Finally, as the two walked outside into the misty morning, Severus asked, "So, what about Regulus? He's the one who came up with this plan in the first place. What's his 'specialty'?"

Andromeda laughed. "Specialty? Haven't you figured it out yet?"

Severus looked at her expectantly.

"C'mon. Who else could get a rebellious troublemaker, a conniving prep, a lovestruck fangirl, a third-wheel peacekeeper and a shy wallflower to get along, let alone work to unite the school?" Andromeda smiled.

"Regulus' gift is leadership?" Severus asked, unsure if that counted.

"Yup, which is kind of ironic," the brunette said as they marched down the grassy slope. "As kids, Regulus _always_ followed Sirius around, like some kind of worshiper. He never left his brother's side," she said, smiling forlornly at the sky.

"He mentioned something about that once," Severus murmured, thinking back to the conversation he had with Regulus in the Hospital Wing previously.

"He did?" Andromeda said, incredulously. "Wow... he almost never mentions _anything _about his brother anymore."

Severus was surprised at this, as he seemed willing enough to talk about him before.

"Maybe he's opening up?" the fifth year thought aloud.

"That's possible, though it seems to sudden for Regulus."

The two finally reached the door of the greenhouse.

"I'm thinking Regulus just finds you easier to talk to," she said, opening the door and going inside.

Severus paused, thinking about her words. Could it really be that difficult for someone else to think of him as a close friend?

He thought back to Lily and what she had said. What _he _had said. Those words still haunted him. "_I don't need help from a mudblood!_"

Severus walked inside the classroom, abandoning his thoughts outside.

**TIMESKIP**

**That night, in the Slytherin common room.**

The six of them sat in the common room, all doing mostly different things.

Regulus was telling an animated story of how he "accidentally" jinxed his partner (a Gryffindor) in Defense Against the Dark Arts. His opponent ended up with jelly legs and the two were the center of attention. However that had earned him two weeks of detention from the professor.

Bellatrix was listening and laughing at his story, congratulating him on showing the Gryffindor house that Slytherin was superior.

Lucius was doing homework, with Narcissa peering over his shoulder and watching him.

Severus walked over to Andromeda, who was sitting in the corner, watching the fireplace.

"So, when did Regulus ask you three to help us?" he asked, sitting down across from her.

Her gaze didn't move from the flames. "This morning. That's actually why we were in that classroom. The three of us were debating what Regulus could be thinking."

Severus nodded and watched the fire with her. He often wondered about that himself. Had Regulus been planning this for a while, and if so, why did he ask Severus first? Why not the more powerful wizards? Or was it out of the blue and the fourth year just happen to ask the first person he met?

These questions pervaded Regulus' mind for the remainder of the evening. As he went to bed, he noticed that Regulus' chess board was slowly filling up. The Rook, the Queen, and Pawn were now on the table. He saw Andromeda watching the fireplace still and wondered what it would be like once all the houses came together.

She must have noticed him watching her, as she turned her head and smiled at him.

Severus smiled back and went upstairs.

* * *

_**SO! Did you like the chapter? Also, I was thinking of doing some kind of pairing in the story, most likely with Severus. Andromeda x Severus is one I was thinking of. But, of course, there's also Lily x Severus, but I won't be able to get as into that one. Suggestions are welcome. No yaoi and/or yuri pairings, please. If you know me, you know my thoughts on writing that. (There will also most likely be Lucius x Narcissa, but it's up to you guys)**_

_**Thanks!**_

_**-AA**_


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